Question about getting Albinos.

Ack, lack of whitespace makes that hard to read...

[edit] Alright, added in code tags to preserve whitespace and fixed a bunch of mistakes just now... you may want to read it again now that I've corrected them.[/edit]

Hey all, fellow math nerd here. Hhw is totally right on in using the binomial distribution to figure the exact percentages of getting a certain number of albinos from a certain number of eggs. However, only nerdy math teachers like me have the patience or desire to crank out that formula.

IMO, I think the simple expected number formula would be much easier and practical in answering this type of question. The expected number tells you the successes you can expect out of a given number of trials. Or this case the number of albinos you can expect from a given number of eggs. The expected number can be figured out as follows:

Expected Number = (Number of trials) * (% chance of success)

or in this case:

Expected # of Albinos = (# of Eggs) * (% Chance of an individual egg being albino)

Lets take the example of breeding two Het Albinos together. As mentioned earlier the chance of an individual egg in this case would be 25%. So lets look at the number of albinos you could expect from some different numbers of eggs:
4 Eggs:4 * .25 = 1 Albino
6 Eggs:6 * .25 = 1.5 Albinos
8 Eggs:8 * .25 = 2 Albinos
10 Eggs: 10 * .25 = 2.5 Albinos
12 Eggs: 12 * .25 = 3 Albinos
etc.

Now obviously you can't have exactly 1.5 snakes, but you if you have six eggs you can reasonably expect 1 or 2 albinos. The expected number isn't as exact as the binomial distribution, but is much easier in figuring out how many morphs you can expect out of a clutch.

Lee